Witness turns on the young Amish boy witnessing a murder in a restroom.
Robocop has the scene where the two rival execs are in a restroom. One, not knowing the other is in a stall, starts to trash him to a colleague. It sets the stage for a later scene.
French Connection has the scene where Popeye Doyle takes an undercover cop into a restroom to get information and then has to hit him a few times.
My Favorite Year has a wonderful scene where a drunken Peter O’Toole goes into a ladies room and an appalled woman says, “This is for ladies only!”
“So is this, madam,” O’Toole’s character says while urinating. “But every once in awhile I have to run some water through it.”
The bathroom scene from Bound makes me cringe, but more from the imminent loss of his finger than anything beyond it. Not gross, but very intense and focused.
This scene ends with Randy lifting the toilet lid and hard-cutting to a POV shot of Ralphie lifting the lid of the pot of red cabbage in the kitchen, which is a fine commentary on red cabbage.
I considered the similar scene in Mike Nichols’ Wolf, where Jack Nicholson pees on James Spader’s shoes. But The Sexy Beast version is far better. He’s just marking territory. And he’s not even a lycanthrope!
I’ll add a notable action toilet set piece: True lies - probably the only time where placing a secret camera on the men’s urinal is acceptable. Also it uses all those familiar aspects of public restrooms (i.e. urinal, mirrors, stalls and hand dryer) to great effect… by which I mean neutralising terrorist threats.
I want to say 4 months, 3 weeks & 2 days. The scene after:
spoilers
Otila in desperation has sex with Mr. Bebe as payment. That whole segment depressing and uncomfortable as it releases the tension that was built during the ‘negotiations’ and before. There is this moment just after she retreated to the bathroom to clean up where it’s just the back of her head as she’s sitting half naked in the bath with the sound of the dripping tap. Capturing the feeling that the bathroom is kind of sanctum, a place away from the world and place to be clean (to try to be anyway), a place to be rid of dirt and shit…
I have a scene from a movie which is shot almost entirely in a restaurant. The restaurant is managed by gangster boss Albert Spica. Spica is the most vulgar and brutal person imaginable. His wife falls in love with a book-reading guest… they meet in the restroom. The restroom is the only place where they can meet and they have a beautiful love scene there. The restroom is completely white, like a safe haven for the lovers… of course Spica finds out… you have to watch the scene to understand (I only can say that it is my favourite restroom scene), like any Greenaway movie, they have to be experienced, words don’t do justice…
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover by Peter Greenaway…
That makes me think of The English Patient. Only I don’t think the scene takes place in a restroom. I’m talking about the marzipan scene. I think they’re just in a hallway or something.
It’s been so long since I’ve seen either that or Cook,Thief,Wife,Lover. I really need to see both again. Thanks newbrof.
Also, RedHerb…both of those are quite nice. I had considered True Lies for a bit, just because I like the way that whole scene shakes out. I don’t recall the secret camera on the urinal though. I only recall him seeing the attack coming through a reflection in his glasses. And now that you mention it, I see why. The camera and the glasses were linked or something. Crap. Am I gonna have to see that film again too?
Also…4/3/2…wow. Good one. But I’ve already talked too much about that film in 3x3 segments. Man I wish more people would see that film.
Die Hard - McClane was in the bathroom, but Policeman Al was not, but I really like this quiet scene in which we see that McClane is not indestructible. He really reaches out to Al at this point as his one and only support against that doctor alien guy from Galaxy Quest. On top of that, Al opens up to John and reveals that he once shot a kid on accident, which is paid off in the third ending of the movie.
Full Metal Jacket - “I am in a world of shit.” A military barracks bathroom, or the latrine as it is often called, is probably the cleanest bathroom that you will ever encounter. Particularly during basic training, the bathroom is where guys like Gunnery Sargent Hartman work their magic, making sure soldiers pay attention to EVERY detail. To drill sargents like him, the latrine is a holy place. Most bathrooms allow for solitude, whereas the barracks bathroom reminds soldiers that they must literally eat, sleep, and shit together, or not at all. When Private Pyle finally snaps and actually does what all the other Privates have probably fantasized about, he does it in the king’s pristine throne room. I guess.
Psycho - I’d seen clips of the shower scene a multitude of times, in so many “best of” horror specials, but when I actually grew up and then sat and watched this I was amazed at how long it continues after the actual attack. The slow pull away from the dead woman’s unblinking eye just goes on FOREVER and is therefore, awesome.
Runners up: The Matrix (Morpheous fights Smith), Lethal Weapon 2, The Truman Show (Truman’s last mirror monologue before he makes a break for it), THX-1138
